The ARK Experience
by Phoenix-of-Vengeance
Summary: Where am I? How did I get here? Will I survive or suffer? Will I live in fear of the animals, or learn to overcome the obstacle before me? All this and more await me in the ARKs. Rated M for certain situations, violence, Gore, etc.
1. Chapter 1

I wake up on a beach. Which is strange, because I don't live near one. I live in a semi rural area, by pine trees and a main highway that meets the interstate a few miles down the road.

It's bright, and sunny, but cold. I go to get up and I notice this weird, diamond shaped thing implanted in my left wrist.

…

What is that?! I scratch at it to try and get it out, but it hurts! I leave it alone and look around.

Are those...palm trees? We don't have those at home. Nor any of these other tropical looking plants.

In my confusion, I fail to immediately notice that I have no clothes on. Only when the cold wind that bites at my skin and makes me shiver do I realize.

I hastily cover myself with my hands, only to realize they won't do me any good.

This makes me think of the tv show, Naked and Afraid, but without the camera crew and medical people who hung out nearby to actually stop a person from dying.

Oh God, where am I? I see no footprints near me, so I was not drug here. No tire tracks, no marks except for my own. How did I get here?

I hear a strange warbling sound nearby and the rustling of a bush, and before I can react, out wanders a colorful, fat, fluffy…. Dodo bird?

"Hold up…" I say aloud to myself. Dodos are extinct. If I remember correctly, their only surviving relatives or anatomically similar descendants are the turkeys we eat for Thanksgiving.

Maybe I'm wrong, and it's not a Dodo. But what else on Earth could it be? It looked just like the ones in Ice Age, just not as cartoonist. Still cute. And I bet this one didn't know Tae Kwon Do or was in a group of highly trained Tae Kwon Dodos.

What the hell am I thinking? None of this is going to help me. But maybe the bird might. Maybe if I follow it around, it'll show me to food, or maybe even some a primitive shelter, like a cave or something.

And so, I begin to follow the bird, admiring its plumage. The feathers on the main part of the body were a bright pink hue, with white on its wings and single patch on its head. The face was yellow, and the rounded tip of the top of the beak was a dark green.

"You're a very pretty bird, I'll give you that." I say to it, rubbing at my arms to try and warm up. It isn't freezing, I think, but I'm a small person. Five feet two, and weigh less than a hundred pounds soaking wet. I get cold real easy. I hope i was able to find some warmth soon.

After a while of just walking along the beach and wandering around, the Dodo, who I am deciding to call Peppermint because of the coloring, began eating some berries from a little bush. I see a similar bush nearby and go to pick some of the berries off of it.

Red, yellow, blue, purple, white, and black were the color of the berries I found. Basic knowledge told me anything brightly colored would be bad for me. Immediately I discard the black and white berries, leaving only the red, yellow, blue and purple ones.

I look over at Peppermint, and see they are chewing mostly on the yellow ones. Those must be safe, so I eat a few of those as well.

I'm not a fruit and vegetable person, and prefer berries cooked in a cobbler or a pie, but these would have to suffice if I want to survive. I decide to keep the rest, as I see my new companion eat them as well. If only I had some pockets…

I collect a few more to eat as we walk, following Peppermint all over the beach. There are more Dodos around ahead of us, one of which is a very dull yellow with purplish white wings, and it seemed excited as it waddle-runs this way. I'm wary before it runs up to Peppermint and nuzzles up against the other bird.

"Awe, you got yourself a mate." I remarked, smiling at the cute scene.

…

Oh no… What about my husband? Our three kids? What was going to happen? If I'm in this God-knows-where place, who was going to keep an eye on them while he was at work? His mother is legally blind, she can't. The hours he works, he can't drop them off and pick them up from a daycare. My parents live in different towns, and have very strenuous work hours.

Were they all alone? The older two would get off the bus and I won't be there to get them. My youngest, at home, all by himself….. For hours.

I don't want to think about the implications. Maybe the neighbors would notice? At least then they'd have a guardian until someone calls him.

I sigh, a deep heavy breath.

Worrying about it won't really do me any good now, I'm way the hell over here in BumFuck Egypt for all I know.

The Dodos begin wandering off and follow, trying to focus on the birds instead of other things. It wasn't working well and before I realize it, I'm lost. I don't see the birds, and I'm not on the beach. I'm in some kind of forest. Dense, but not too dense, I can still see splotches of sunlight on the ground.

At least I won't get sunburned….

I look around, trying to see if I can find the beach again, but all I see is forest.

"Shit…" I curse aloud. Maybe if i just go back the way I came? That usually worked, right? Backtracking? Ugh, I'm no good at trying to survive on my own like this….

I can see it now, I won't last two days….

Yeah, there's a beach nearby, but watch that shit be salt frickin' water and I can't drink it. Even if I find water, and keep on with these berries…

I stop when I hear thunderous footsteps, slow and very, very heavy nearby. What the shit? I look around before I see a giant foot.

…

…

…

The damn toes on it are freaking almost bigger than I am! Is this a damn elephant?! I look up, and blink.

Then scrub at my eyes.

I know...there's no way….that I'm staring….at freaking...Littlefoot!

I didn't have much time to marvel at it though, before something slams into me and I hit the ground.

I hear a high pitched type of squealing, but I can't move or see, all I can feel is claws. Sharp claws raking into my flesh, and I suddenly don't cold. Probably because the warm blood in my body is now outside and covering me in it.

I try to move, to get away, and all I manage is to turn my head a bit.

I regret it, because what I see has haunted my nightmares since childhood. Horror scenes of Jurassic Park play in my head.

Raptors.

That's all I can think before everything goes black. I hear nothing, feel nothing, see nothing, know nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up. And am very confused. The last thing I remember, I was being eaten alive. Had I imagined that? Had those berries I'd eaten been a drug that made me see things and I'd just passed out?

…

No, because I was in a forest, or jungle…. And now, I'm on the beach. Not the same one, but I must be a good ways down it.  
Before I can think any more about it, I hear a slow stomping behind me. Not as loud as the dinosaur I think I saw earlier, and certainly not earth stompy either.  
Curious, I turn my head and am greeted by a black and green scaled three horn.  
"What….." I murmur, watching Mr. Three horn stroll along the beach.  
"Okay…. Dodos, Littlefoot, Raptors, and now Cera's dad…. Where the hell am i?!" I ask myself, starting to legitimately freak out now.  
"Dinosaurs, what the shit?! The fuck?! You all died out hundreds of fucking years ago!" I yell aloud.  
The dinos apparently don't seem to care, because nothing stopped what it was doing.  
And then I had a thought. If dinos were here, then there must be people around to take care of them, right? Like in Jurassic Park! So maybe this was all just a joke or something? Or was I getting way too into a VR game? No, I don't own VR….  
"I'm so confused…" I murmur to myself.  
I look up when I hear a twig snap and turn my head around to see…  
Peppermint.  
"You, you little bastard!" I curse to myself. "You got me killed!"  
The stupid bird makes its cute little cooing noise and fluffed its feathers, then I notice something.  
"Hey, what's that on you neck?" I ask, bending down to take a look. What i find is a small, collar? I guess. It even had a little dangly metal piece on it. "You got a name?" I ask, trying to see if I could see the- "Ow!" I yell when the bird squawks and then pecks my fingers. "Little bastard…." I mutter.  
"He doesn't like strangers touching him." I hear a female voice from behind me.  
I freeze. And immediately flush red, because I just remembered I'm naked! Oh fuck….  
"I was just trying to look at the collar…." I said quietly in defense as i stand up and look behind me.  
I yell again and fall on my ass when I'm face to face with another Raptor.  
The woman laughed. "Relax, Whitetip won't hurt you." She says, and I look up to realize this woman is SITTING ON THE ANIMAL. Like, it has a freaking saddle and EVERYTHING! And there's one more with her.  
The one called Whitetip was a dark brownish black color, with black feathers on its head and elbows, the tips white.  
The other was more brightly colored, a russet orange with yellow and red feathers.  
"Sorry…." I murmured, feeling stupid as I stand up and brush sand off me. Ewww… Sand in the nether regions...that's uncomfortable…. "I just got… Wait. I died. How-?" I haven't figured that part out yet.  
"Oh, yeah, that happens." She answers, totally blase about it, as if we're talking about the weather. "This place resurrects you. At least if you die violently."  
"...uh…..what now?"  
"Yeah, but if you die of natural causes, then you stay dead." She explains more. And I just stare at her and blink.  
"You're definitely new here." She says as she gets off the Raptor, the animal cooing a bit as she gives it a pet under its chin. Now I can really see her. She's pretty. She's got the nice pale skin, and these beautiful green eyes. Dark green eyes , like emeralds. Her hair is long and straight, glossy black. It hangs down to her waist. She has a scar on her cheek, but a small one, what I would call a cute scar. And she looks fit, like she works out a lot. Dang it, she's taller than me! Not by much, but when I stand in at five two, anything is taller than me. And she's freaking curvy as hell too, even with those weird white clothes on...  
Stop it….  
"You're lucky I found you, and not the others." She tells me, digging in a saddle bag. "Here, I have clothes, they'll probably be big on you, but at least you'll have something to cover yourself."  
"There's other people here?" I ask as she pulls out some strange black clothes.  
"Yes. Some are friendly, but there's a tribe near here, they're not." She says, handing me the clothes. "These are hide, you look like you get cold easy, so they'll keep you warmer than the cloth set I have."  
"Oh, thanks." I say, taking the clothes. That's why they looked strange, they weren't cotton or polyester or stuff im used to. "So…" I should probably introduce myself…  
"I'm Amanda." I say, holding out my hand.  
"Oh, im an idiot." She says, laughing as she takes my hand and gives it a firm shake. "Emeria. Nice to meet you Amanda."  
"Emeria...that's a pretty name." I say and start putting the clothes on. Ah, that feels so much better….  
"Huh? Oh, I guess." She says, shrugging her shoulders. "It's just a name. Yours is...unusual to me. Are you from the place called Earth?"  
"..." Her questions strikes me as weird. "Yes, aren't you?" I ask.  
"No, I'm from Skyrim." She answers. "I don't see very many others from there. I saw one, a year or two ago, but he either left or is somewhere else on this one."  
"Left? We can leave?"  
"I think so, it was an idea he had." She tells me. "Something about those weird tower things. But you're in no shape to even try. There's a group out here trying, but you need to meet certain requirements. There's things you need to give to the tower, from what I heard. But you have to go cave diving. If you think the surface is hard, you're not ready for the caves."  
"Oh…" I say. Of course…  
"Ah, don't sound so glum." She says, patting me on the shoulder. "I can teach you some survival skills. You can stay with me, if you want."  
"If it isn't too much trouble." I say. "It certainly beats wandering around on my own."  
"Great, you can ride Sunset." she says, pointing out the brightly colored Raptor.  
"He's tame, he won't bite you."  
"..." I just look at the animal that's taller than me.  
"What's wrong?" She asks.  
"I… I'm just a little overwhelmed." I admit.  
"Ah, yeah, that'll last a while." She tells me. "But I'll help you out, stick with me, and you'll be fine."  
"Okay." I say as I try to figure out how to mount the animal. I don't see any stirrups…  
"You need help?" She asks, getting on Whitetip. I don't know when it happened, but Peppermint was perched inside a saddle bag, it's little head sticking out. "Sunset, kneel."  
And the animal does! While not kneeling like i'm used to, it certainly bent down and made it easier to get onto.  
"You ever ridden a horse before?" She asks as I awkwardly get into the saddle and grab onto the weird reigns.  
"It's been years…" I say.  
"Ah. Well, this is nothing like that. You move a lot more, just hang on tight and you'll be fine. I'l go first, he'll automatically follow."  
"...okay." I say, gripping tight onto the reigns.  
With that, she spurs her and we start travelling.  
She was right. This thing does have a and fro movement to it, but it isn't bad. I could probably get used to it. As we walk, I just look around at the beach and the island. It's definitely a pretty place, I have to give it that. But why is a beach so cold? Beaches were supposed to be warm…  
From my left I hear a noise and turn to see another long neck dinosaur. It isn't as big as the one i saw before, and it looked...kinda derpy.  
"What is that? Do you know?" I ask.  
"I think that one's called a Diplodocus. They're very dense, and friendly. A little too friendly. They'll nuzzle you to death. But the noise it makes is adorable."  
"Ah, okay I've heard of Diplos." I answer, smiling a bit.  
"You have these creatures back home?"  
"Had, they're all dead and extinct. Some animals are their descendents, turtles, and crocs, they haven't changed much in the six million years. Supposedly, chickens are more closely related to some dinos than other reptiles."  
That must have been funny to her, because she gave a loud laugh.  
"You're joking, right? Chickens?! That's hysterical."  
"I did say supposedly…."  
"Ah, I'm just messin' with ya." She tells me. "But, still, thats kinda funny."  
I smile and laugh as well. "Yeah, I guess it is." I agree.  
"So, but your world used to have dinos, you probably know more about them than i did when I first got here."  
"I…..maybe?"  
"One person told me a while back, that the big long necks, the ones called Brontos, never actually existed?"  
"Ah, someone put an Apotosaur skull on a Camarasaur body and called it a new dino," I explained. "Or was it the other way, or a different one entirely…. Either way, the mistake was fixed years later."  
"Did the person legit think he made a new discovery, or was trying to cheat his way into the history books?" She asks as we leave the beach and head into a forest. It was different than the one i was in earlier. That was more jungle. This was covered in humongous trees that seemed to reach into the sky forever. And the ground was covered in brown leaves.  
"that I don't know." I say. "I think it was a legit mistake, but I'm not sure."  
"Huh, still interesting."  
We're quiet for a few minutes before she stops her Raptor suddenly, and I nearly bump heads with Sunset as he stops too.  
"What-?" I start to ask before she shushes me.  
Did she hear something? I start twisting my head to see, straining to hear anything. But all I hear is animal noises and bugs and stuff.  
"No,...okay." She says, urging Whitetip on again. "I thought I heard something, false alarm."  
"Oh….okay." I say, relieved. Then I have a bad thought. "Uh...are there… t-rexes here?"  
"Yeah." She answers. "And Allos, and Carnos. Thats the big three aggressors. Then there's Raptors. Theres these ones with really long claws, they aren't aggressive, but territorial, don't get too close, those claws hurt."  
I feel my my eyes widen.  
"I have some notes on the predators and aggressive animals here." She tells me. "Found them scattered all over the place, another explorer before us left them. Must have been years and years ago, the house and structures they were in were all destroyed and looked abandoned for ages."  
"Really? That's something." I say. At least I could read up on some of these animals.  
"Oh….dont go around the mountains." She warns me. "There's a really, really big carnivore that lives up there. You don't want to mess with that thing. At. All. Its suicide."  
"What the hell?"  
"Yeah. Its bad. Some people refer to it as the Demon King, or just the fiery eyed one."  
"I definitely do not want any part of that…"  
There was something here bigger and badder than a T-Rex?! Oh God...dont let it be an Indominus… would that exist here? Bronto did, so why not a genetically modified dino? Then again, if there are dinos. They're probably all genetically modified….  
"What the fuck is this place…" I don't realize I'm speaking aloud.  
"Huh, oh, it's called an Ark." She tells me. "This one is referred to simply as the island. There's more. I don't know how many or what they're called, but supposedly each one is different. Nobody knows why we're here or how we got here. All we know is that we have to survive, and eventually get off this place. And we don't even know if using those weird towers takes us home, or somewhere else."  
I don't like hearing that…  
"So, does that mean...i can never go back home?"  
"It kinda seems that way." She says, and I think she sounds said. "I haven't seen any of my old friends inna couple years. Sometimes i wonder if they even remember me, or miss me."  
"... I'm sure they do." I say. I decide not to bring up my husband and our kids. i don't want to make it seem like I'm undermining her feelings.  
"Thanks." She says. "We'll be home soon, I managed to find a decent spot by the river to set up camp. It's nothing fancy, but it serves its purpose."  
"At least it's better than staying outside." I offer.  
"That it is." She agrees as we keep on through the forest.  
I look around some more as we walk. These trees make me feel very small. As did most of the animals here. There were more three horns and the occasional Bronto. I see a big, feathery thing off to our right with some long claws. "Is that that thing you mentioned earlier?" I ask.  
"Yep."  
"Jesus…"  
"Who is that?" She asks. "I hear alot of people say that name when they're upset or impressed or...well, pretty much all the time actually."  
"Oh...he's our God, basically." I say. "It's kind od complicated to explain."  
"Ah, okay. So you have just the one?"  
"Actually, that depends on the religion. Christianity has one God. Other religions have several."  
"Really? We have nine." She says. "We'll, nine good ones."  
"Nine? Good?"  
"Yeah, the good ones are called Aedra. The bad ones are called Daedra. Most of the Daedra aren't actually evil or malevolent, some or more neutral, some aren't necessarily good, but they aren't nice. And we have a couple that are just pure evil."  
"...wow…"  
She laughs again. "I always get that reaction. I guess it does seem rather a lot compared to yours."  
Before I can reply, i .hit me head and i fall off the Raptor, dazed, disoriented, and unable to see because I have some swirly stuff in front of my eyes. I can't move much, but I can hear a ruckus that's over pretty quickly. I blink a lot to try and see and eventually I can again.  
"You okay?" I hear Emeria ask.  
"What happened?" I ask, kinda freaking out a bit.  
"Ah, a microraptor." She tells me. "They like to fly into people and knock them out. But They're dead now, and we have fresh meat."  
"Oh….okay." I mumble, and get to my feet with her help.  
"I forgot to mention those, my bad."  
"It's all right. I can at least start keeping an eye out for them now."  
"Y'know, you're a lot less freaky outy that other people." She tells me.  
"I like to think I'm a level headed person most of the time." I say. "And besides, I'm still kinda shocked about everything."  
"We'll, you're still rather calm about it." She says. "I guess that means you'll have a meltdown about it later. Just dont destroy my stuff, okay?"  
I don't know if she's joking or not, but she's smiling so I decide to play it off.  
"Do I look like I can destroy anything?" I say with a chuckle. "I'm a tiny person."  
"That's true, if you were a race from back home, you' be a Breton."  
"A What?" I ask as we both get back onto our Raptors.  
"A Breton. Its one of the four man races of Tamriel. There's four man races, four Mer races, that I can recall. And two beast races. The man races are Breton, Nord, imperial, and Redguard. The Mer races are Dunmer, Altmer, Bosmer, and Orsimer, and our beast races are Argonians and Khajiit."  
"Wow, your world seems very diverse."  
"You don't have different races?"  
"No, we do, but they dont have fancy names like yours. There's Caucasian, African-American, Asian...and then there's differences in each one. The Asian race can refer to anyone from Asia, but there's Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, I think. Then there's Europeans; those can be French, Egyptian, Russian, American, Italian...it goes on."  
"Damn… that's A lot." She muses.  
"Yeah…" I hope I didn't accidentally be racist or something, that wasn't my intention.  
It seems neither of us have anything else to say so we dissolve back into silence again. This time for a while.  
I guess maybe about ten or twenty minutes passed before she pointed out her camp.  
"You can just see the fencing through the trees." She said. "That's home sweet home."  
Fencing? Ah, maybe a barrier for predators, made sense. Honestly, without my glasses…..  
I felt my face.  
Nope.  
No wonder! I didn't realize before,.but everything was all blurry and shit before and until now, I never thought about my glasses! I can't see! Well, not well anyways.  
Oh fuck….  
I shake my head and try not to think about it. We were almost to shelter, things would be better there…  
Hopefully.


End file.
